Swedish director Ruben Östlund, a two-time winner of the Palme d'Or, will be jury president at this year's Cannes Film Festival in May, organisers announced Tuesday.
The 48-year-old director won the festival's top prize last year for "Triangle of Sadness", a biting satire hitting out at fashion models and the super-rich, who find their status suddenly undermined when disaster strikes their cruise ship.
The film, which stars Woody Harrelson as a drunken Marxist captain, has also earned him three nominations at next month's Oscars – for best picture, best director and best original screenplay.
Östlund also won the Palme d'or in 2017 for "The Square", with a similarly cringe-inducing look at the art world. Set in Sweden, it featured US actor Elisabeth Moss and Britain's Dominic West.
In a statement Östlund said he was "happy, proud and humbled to be entrusted with the honour" of leading the jury, which comes exactly 50 years after fellow Swede Ingrid Bergman had the role.
It is the third time a two-time Palme winner has led the jury in Cannes, following Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica, and the first time it has gone to someone the year after they won.
"I am sincere when I say that cinema culture is in its most important period ever. The cinema has a unique aspect – there, we watch together, and it demands more on what is shown and increases the intensity of the experience," Östlund said.
"It makes us reflect in a different way than when we dopamine scroll in front of the individual screens".
🎬 The Swedish director Ruben Östlund, twice winner of the Palme d’or, will preside over the feature film Jury of the 76th edition of the Festival de Cannes from 16 to 27 May!
— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) February 28, 2023
The Official Selection will be announced mid-April. #Cannes2023
👉 https://t.co/pE7boEHN5v pic.twitter.com/9avnFE3wZe
Humour as social commentary
After studying cinema in Gothenburg, Östlund directed his first feature film in 2004, "The Guitar Mongoloid", portraying the lives of outcasts in a fictional city that closely resembles the real thing.
He went on to make other short films "Autobiographical Scene Number 6882" and "Incident by a Bank", which won Golden Bear for best short film at the 60th Berlinale in 2010.
All bare the hallmarks of Östlund's trademark humour used to make scathing observations of Western middle classes and their foibles.
Östlund is no stranger to the Cannes festival scene, with "Involuntary", one of his first feature films selected at Un Certain Regard in 2008. Later came his third feature film "Play" which was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2011.
He later gained international attention with 2014's "Force Majeure" about a father on a ski trip who rescues his mobile phone before his children during an avalanche. It won the runner-up Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section.
"As president, I will remind my colleagues in the jury about the social function of the cinema," Östlund said.
"A good movie relates to the collective experience, stimulates us to think and makes us want to discuss what we have seen – so let's watch together."
The selection of films is due to be announced in April along with the other members of the jury.
